Odyssey

This article is about Homer's epic poem. For other uses, see Odyssey (disambiguation).

"Homer's Odyssey" redirects here. For The Simpsons episode, see Homer's Odyssey (The Simpsons).

The Odyssey (/ˈɒdɪsi/;^[1] Ancient Greek: Ὀδύσσεια, romanized: Odýsseia)^[2][3] is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the Iliad, the Odyssey is divided into 24 books. It follows the heroic king of Ithaca, Odysseus, also known by the Latin variant Ulysses, and his homecoming journey after the ten-year long Trojan War. His journey from Troy to Ithaca lasts an additional ten years, during which time he encounters many perils and all of his crewmates are killed. In Odysseus's long absence, he is presumed dead, leaving his wife Penelope and son Telemachus to contend with a group of unruly suitors competing for Penelope's hand in marriage.

Odyssey
Attributed to Homer
Oldest-known manuscript fragment of the Odyssey, produced in Ptolemaic Egypt during the 3rd century BC and unearthed in Medinet Ghoram
Original title	Ὀδύσσεια
Translator	See English translations of Homer
Composed	c. 8th century BC
Language	Homeric Greek
Genre(s)	Epic
Form	Epic poem
Rhyme scheme	None
Lines	12,109
Preceded by	The Iliad
Metre	Dactylic hexameter
Full text
The Odyssey at Wikisource
Odyssey at Greek Wikisource

The Odyssey was first composed in Homeric Greek around the 8th or 7th century BC; by the mid-6th century BC, it had become part of the Greek literary canon. In antiquity, Homer's authorship was taken as true, but contemporary scholarship predominantly assumes that the Iliad and the Odyssey were composed independently, forming as part of long oral traditions. Given widespread illiteracy, the poem was performed for an audience by an aoidos or rhapsode.

Key themes in the epic include the ideas of nostos (νόστος; 'return', homecoming), wandering, xenia (ξενία; 'guest-friendship'), testing, and omens. Scholars still explore on the narrative significance of certain groups in the poem, such as women and slaves, who have larger roles than in other works of ancient literature. This focus is especially remarkable when contrasted with the Iliad, which centres the exploits of soldiers and kings during the Trojan War.

The Odyssey is regarded as one of the most significant works of the Western canon. The first English translation of the Odyssey was in the 16th century. Adaptations and re-imaginings continue to be produced across a wide variety of media. In 2018, when BBC Culture polled experts around the world to find literature's most enduring narrative, the Odyssey topped the list.

Background

Composition and performance

Many suggestions have been made for dating composition of theIliad and the Odyssey, but there is no consensus.^[4] Richard Lamberton says that the epics "[straddled] the beginnings of widespread literacy" from the middle of the 5th-century BC.^[5] The Greeks began adopting a modified version of the Phoenician alphabet to create their own writing system during the 8th century BC.^[4] If the Homeric poems were among the earliest products of that literacy, they would have been composed towards the late 8th century BC.^[6][a] Rudolf Pfeiffer says they were probably written down but there is no evidence for publishing, literate audience consumption, or physical dissemination.^[9][b] Dating is further complicated by the fact that the Homeric poems, or sections of them, were performed by rhapsodes for several hundred years.^[4] Textual reconstructions indicate the poems have taken many forms.^[11] While they certainly began and developed as oral performance poetry,^[12] it is not clear whether oral tradition can be solely responsible for their composition.^[13]

John Miles Foley said that performance is crucial part of their meaning.^[14] The performance of epic poetry is a subject of both, with the Odyssey depicting professional singers like Phemius and Demodocus.^[15] The singers' performances might indicate that the epic was performed at the houses of distinguished families as part of banquets or dinners in the 2nd and early 1st millennia BC,^[16][17] and that observers may have directed or participated in them.^[16]

Like the Iliad, the Odyssey is divided into twenty-four parts.^[c] Early scholars suggested these correspond to the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet, but this is widely considered ahistorical.^[19][d] The division was probably made long after the poem's composition but is generally accepted as part of the poem's modern structure.^[21] There are many theories as to how they arose. Some suggest they were an authentic part of the oral tradition or invented by Alexandrian scholars.^[22] Pseudo-Plutarch attributed the divisions to Aristarchus of Samothrace, but there is some evidence against this.^[23][24] Some scholars connect the epics' segmentation to the tradition of performance, for example as a creation of rhapsodes.^[25][26]

Both epics assume some knowledge of their audiences—for example, concerning the Trojan War. This strongly indicates that the epics were engaging with a pre-existing mythological tradition.^[27] Arguments exist for either epic having been composed first; it is not clear.^[28] While the Trojan War is an important element for both, the Odyssey does not directly reference any events from the Iliad's depiction of the war,^[29][e] and they are generally considered to have formed independently from one another.^[28]

Influences

Terracotta plaque of the Mesopotamian ogre Humbaba, believed to be a possible inspiration for the figure of Polyphemus

Scholars note strong influences from Near Eastern mythology and literature in the Odyssey.^[31] Martin West notes substantial parallels between the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Odyssey.^[32] Both Odysseus and Gilgamesh are known for traveling to the ends of the earth and on their journeys go to the land of the dead.^[33] On his voyage to the underworld, Odysseus follows instructions given to him by Circe, who is located at the edges of the world and associated with solar imagery.^[34] Like Odysseus, Gilgamesh gets directions on reaching the land of the dead from a divine helper: the goddess Siduri, who, like Circe, dwells by the sea at the ends of the earth, whose home is also associated with the sun. Gilgamesh reaches Siduri's house by passing through a tunnel underneath Mt. Mashu, the high mountain from which the sun comes into the sky.^[35] West argues that the similarity of Odysseus' and Gilgamesh's journeys to the edges of the earth are the result of the influence of the Gilgamesh epic upon the Odyssey.^[36] Classical folklorist Graham Anderson notes other patterns—the heroes of Odyssey and Gilgamesh meet women who can transform people into animals; are involved in the death of divine cattle; unhappily enjoy the presence of a "voluptuous lady in an other-worldly paradise" following a voyage through the underworld.^[37]

Scholars have explored whether figures originate within the poem or belong to a tradition outside of it. Adrienne Mayor says that the Austrian paleontologist Othenio Abel made unfounded claims about the fifth-century BC philosopher Empedocles connecting the cyclops to prehistoric elephant skulls.^[38] Whether the epic poem created, popularised, or simply retold the tale of Polyphemus is a long-standing dispute,^[39] but Anderson says there is some amount of scholarly consensus that the story existed separately from the epic.^[37] William Bedell Stanford notes there are some indications that Odysseus existed independently of Homer, although it is inconclusive.^[40]

Geography

Main articles: Homer's Ithaca and Geography of the Odyssey

Scholars are divided on whether any of the places visited by Odysseus are real.^[41] The events in the main sequence of the Odyssey (excluding Odysseus's embedded narrative of his wanderings) have been said to take place across the Peloponnese and the Ionian Islands.^[42] Many have attempted to map Odysseus's journey, but largely agree that the landscapes—especially those described in books 9 to 11—include too many mythical elements to be truly mappable.^[43] For instance, there are challenges ascertaining whether Odysseus's homeland of Ithaca is the same island that is now called Ithakē (modern Greek: Ιθάκη);^[42] the same is true of the route described by Odysseus to the Phaeacians and their island of Scheria.^[41] British classicist Peter Jones writes that the poem was likely updated many times by oral story-tellers across several centuries before it was written down, making it "virtually impossible" to say "in what sense [the poem] reflects a historical society or accurate geographical knowledge".^[44] Modern scholars tend to explore Odysseus's journey metaphorically rather than literally.^[45]

Synopsis

A mosaic depicting Odysseus, from the villa of La Olmeda, Pedrosa de la Vega, Spain, late 4th–5th centuries AD

Ten years after the Achaean Greeks won the Trojan War, Odysseus, king of Ithaca, has yet to return home from Troy. In his absence, 108 boorish suitors court his wife Penelope. Penelope tells them she will remarry when she is done weaving a shawl; however, she secretly unweaves it every night.

The goddess Athena, disguised first as Mentes then as Mentor, tells Odysseus's son Telemachus to seek news of his father. The two leave Ithaca and visit Nestor, who tells them that Agamemnon, the commander of the Greek army at Troy, was murdered soon after the war. Telemachus travels to Sparta to meet Agamemnon's brother Menelaus, who in turn describes his encounter with the shape-shifting god Proteus. Menelaus says he learned from Proteus that Odysseus is alive, but held captive by the nymph Calypso.

Athena petitions Zeus to rescue Odysseus, and Zeus sends Hermes to negotiate his release. As Odysseus leaves Calypso's island, Poseidon destroys his raft with a storm. The sea nymph Ino protects Odysseus as he swims to Scherie, home of the Phaeacians, and Athena leads the Phaeacian princess Nausicaä to recover him. In the court of Nausicaä's parents Arete and Alcinous, Odysseus excels at athletic games and is overcome with emotion when the bard Demodocus sings about the Trojan War. Odysseus reveals his identity and recounts his adventures following the war.

Charles Gleyre, Odysseus and Nausicaä

On leaving Troy, Odysseus's men unsuccessfully raided the Cicones. Afterward, on an island of lotus-eaters, they found intoxicating fruit which made them forget about reaching home. On another island, they were captured by the cyclops Polyphemus. Odysseus, deceptively calling himself "Nobody", escaped by intoxicating the cyclops and blinding him. However, he boastfully revealed his true identity while escaping, and Polyphemus asked his father Poseidon to take revenge.

Odysseus's crew nearly arrived in Ithaca, but were blown off course after opening a bag of winds they received from Aeolus. Afterwards, all but one of their ships were destroyed by giant cannibals called Laestrygonians. On the island of Aeaea, the witch-goddess Circe turned Odysseus's men into pigs. Hermes helped Odysseus resist Circe's magic using the herb moly, and Odysseus forced her to restore the crew's human forms. Odysseus and Circe then became lovers for a year until he left to continue home. Next, Odysseus traveled to the edge of Oceanus, where the living can speak with the dead. The spirit of the prophet Tiresias told Odysseus he would successfully return home, but must eventually undertake another journey. Odysseus also met the spirits of his mother Anticleia and former comrades Agamemnon and Achilles.

Odysseus and the Sirens, eponymous vase of the Siren Painter, c. 480–470 BC (British Museum)

Odysseus' crew then sailed past the Sirens, whose enticing song lured sailors to their deaths. His crewmen plugged their ears with beeswax to avoid hearing them, while Odysseus tied himself to the ship's mast. Next, they navigated the narrow passage between the whirlpool Charybdis and the multi-headed monster Scylla. Finally, on the island of Thrinacia, Odysseus' men killed and ate sacred cattle belonging to the sun god Helios. Helios asked Zeus to punish them, which he did by destroying their last ship. Odysseus, the sole survivor, washed ashore on the island Ogygia. There he met Calypso, who took him captive as her lover until Hermes eventually intervened.

After hearing Odysseus' story, the Phaeacians take him to Ithaca, where Athena disguises him as an elderly beggar. Without knowing his identity, the swineherd Eumaeus offers him lodging and food. Telemachus returns home from Sparta, evading an ambush from the suitors. Odysseus reveals himself to his son and the two return home, where Odysseus's elderly dog Argos recognizes him through his disguise. The suitors mock and mistreat Odysseus in his own home. He and Telemachus hide the suitors' weapons in preparation for violent revenge. Odysseus also reencounters Penelope and her servant Eurycleia, who recognizes him from a scar on his feet.

Penelope announces she is ready to remarry, and that she will choose whoever wins an archery contest with Odysseus's bow. After each suitor fails to even string the bow, Odysseus successfully strings it and fires an arrow through a series of axe heads. Having won the contest, he kills the suitors; Telemachus also hangs a group of servants who had sex with them. Odysseus reveals his identity to Penelope, who tests him by asking to move their bed. He correctly states that the bed, which he carved from the trunk of an olive tree, is immovable, and the two lovingly reunite.

The next day, after Odysseus reveals himself to his father Laertes, the families of the murdered suitors gather to get revenge. Athena intervenes and prevents further bloodshed.

Style

Structure

15th-century manuscript of Book I written by scribe John Rhosos (British Museum)

The narrative opens in medias res; the preceding events are described through flashbacks and storytelling.^[46]

In Classical Greece, some books or sections were provided with their own titles. Books 1 to 4, which focus on the perspective of Telemachus, are called the Telemachy.^[47] Books 9 to 12, wherein Odysseus provides an account of his adventures, are called the Apologos or Apologoi.^[45][48] Book 22 was known as Mnesterophonia (Mnesteres, 'suitors' + phónos, 'slaughter').^[49] Book 22 is generally said to conclude the Greek Epic Cycle, but fragments remain of a lost sequel known as the Telegony.^[50]

Debate exists over what constitutes the "original" Odyssey. Some scholars regard the Telemachy as a later additional while others note that later parts do not make sense without those books.^[51] Likewise, the poem's ending has been the subject of debate since antiquity—Aristarchus of Samothrace and Aristophanes of Byzantium regarded the epic's real ending as lines 293–295 of book 23. Similar debates over the poem's ending occur today.^[52]

Narrative and language

The epic has 12,109 lines composed in dactylic hexameter, sometimes called Homeric hexameter—a metre with six metrical feet.^[53][54] The form of hexameter is catelectic, meaning that it lacks an expected syllable in the last foot. Each line has between twelve to seventeen syllable and generally forms a grammatically complete sentence.^[18]

The narrative is primarily related through speech—that is, characters talking to themselves or to somebody else.^[55] Consequently, they frequently serve as narrators alongside the Homeric narrator, and their speech is the primary method of characterisation.^[56]

The language is simple, direct, and fast-paced.^[57] It is also high in style—the vocabulary was likely never the vernacular of any Greek population.^[58] An important feature is the Homeric simile. These are comparative metaphors that can be long^[f] or short,^[60] typically deriving from the natural world or everyday life. Irene de Jong describes them as "omnitemporal"—they may use epic tense (blending past and present); or present a timeless truth (gnomic aorist); or use the simple present tense.^[61] Their functions vary; examples include characterisation, the reinforcement of theme.^[62]

Traditionally, the Homeric simile was regarded as a predecessor of European literary similes. This has been contested—for example by Oliver Taplin.^[63] Modern scholars generally agree that the Homeric similes formed as part of the epics' oral tradition, but earlier writers suggested they were added by one or more later poets.^[64]

An important element of Homeric texts is their use of epithets—in English, these translate into compound adjectives like much-nourished or much-nourishing.^[65]

Themes and patterns

Homecoming

1794 student edition of the Odyssey including the Batrachomyomachia

Homecoming (Ancient Greek: νόστος, nostos) is a central theme of the Odyssey.^[66] The Greek word nostos signifies both a homecoming voyage by sea and narratives involving the homecoming.^[67][68] Classicist Agathe Thornton notes that nostos to the victorious Achaeans following the fall of Troy, but the narrator focuses on Odysseus and provides other Achaeans' homecomings as part of his narrative.^[69]

Following Agamemnon's homecoming, his wife Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, kill Agamemnon. Agamemnon's son, Orestes kills Aegisthus for vengeance, paralleling the death of the suitors with the death of Aegisthus; Athena and Nestor famously use Orestes as an example for Telemachus, motivating him to action.^[70] During Odysseus' trip to the underworld, Agamemnon tells him about Clytemnestra's betrayal. After reaching Ithaca, Athena transforms Odysseus into a beggar so he can test the loyalty of his wife Penelope.^[71]

Agamemnon eventually praises Penelope for not killing Odysseus, and her faithfulness ensures Odysseus both fame and a successful homecoming compared to the other Achaeans. Agamemnon's failed homecoming caused his death; Achilles achieved fame but died and was denied homecoming.^[72]

Wandering

Before Odysseus's arrival in Ithaca, only two of his adventures are described by the narrator. The rest of Odysseus' adventures are recounted by Odysseus himself. The two scenes described by the narrator are Odysseus on Calypso's island and Odysseus' encounter with the Phaeacians. These scenes are told by the poet to represent an important transition in Odysseus' journey: being concealed to returning home.^[73]

Calypso's name comes from the Greek word kalúptō (καλύπτω), meaning 'to cover' or 'conceal', which is apt, as this is exactly what she does with Odysseus.^{[citation needed]} Calypso keeps Odysseus concealed from the world and unable to return home. After leaving Calypso's island, the poet describes Odysseus' encounters with the Phaeacians—those who "convoy without hurt to all men"^[74]—which represents his transition from not returning home to returning home.^[73]

Also, during Odysseus' journey, he encounters many beings that are close to the gods. These encounters are useful in understanding that Odysseus is in a world beyond man and that influences the fact he cannot return home.^[73] These beings that are close to the gods include the Phaeacians who lived near the Cyclopes,^[75] whose king, Alcinous, is the great-grandson of the king of the giants, Eurymedon, and the grandson of Poseidon.^[73] Some of the other characters that Odysseus encounters are the cyclops Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon; Circe, a sorceress who turns men into animals; and the cannibalistic giants, the Laestrygonians.^[73]

Guest-friendship

Statue representing the Odyssey, Museum of the Ancient Agora of Athens.

Throughout the course of the epic, Odysseus encounters several examples of xenia ('guest-friendship'), which provide models of how hosts should and should not act.^[76][77] The Phaeacians demonstrate exemplary guest-friendship by feeding Odysseus, giving him a place to sleep, and granting him many gifts and a safe voyage home, which are all things a good host should do. Polyphemus demonstrates poor guest-friendship. His only "gift" to Odysseus is that he will eat him last.^[77] Calypso also exemplifies poor guest-friendship because she does not allow Odysseus to leave her island.^[77] Another important factor to guest-friendship is that kingship implies generosity. It is assumed that a king has the means to be a generous host and is more generous with his own property.^[77] This is best seen when Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, begs Antinous, one of the suitors, for food and Antinous denies his request. Odysseus essentially says that while Antinous may look like a king, he is far from a king since he is not generous.^[78]

According to J. B. Hainsworth, guest-friendship follows a very specific pattern:^[79]

1. The arrival and the reception of the guest.
2. Bathing or providing fresh clothes to the guest.
3. Providing food and drink to the guest.
4. Questions may be asked of the guest and entertainment should be provided by the host.
5. The guest should be given a place to sleep, and both the guest and host retire for the night.
6. The guest and host exchange gifts, the guest is granted a safe journey home, and the guest departs.

Another important factor of guest-friendship is not keeping the guest longer than they wish and also promising their safety while they are a guest within the host's home.^[76][80]

Testing

Penelope questions Odysseus to prove his identity.

Another theme throughout the Odyssey is testing.^[81] This occurs in two distinct ways. Odysseus tests the loyalty of others and others test Odysseus' identity. An example of Odysseus testing the loyalties of others is when he returns home.^[81] Instead of immediately revealing his identity, he arrives disguised as a beggar and then proceeds to determine who in his house has remained loyal to him and who has helped the suitors. After Odysseus reveals his true identity, the characters test Odysseus' identity to see if he really is who he says he is.^[81] For instance, Penelope tests Odysseus' identity by saying that she will move the bed into the other room for him. This is a difficult task since it is made out of a living tree that would require being cut down, a fact that only the real Odysseus would know, thus proving his identity.^[81]

Testing also has a very specific type scene that accompanies it. Throughout the epic, the testing of others follows a typical pattern. This pattern is:^[81][80]

1. Odysseus is hesitant to question the loyalties of others.
2. Odysseus tests the loyalties of others by questioning them.
3. The characters reply to Odysseus's questions.
4. Odysseus proceeds to reveal his identity.
5. The characters test Odysseus' identity.
6. There is a rise of emotions associated with Odysseus's recognition, usually lament or joy.
7. Finally, the reconciled characters work together.

Omens

Odysseus and Eurycleia by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein

Omens occur frequently throughout the Odyssey. Within the epic poem, they frequently involve birds.^[82] According to Thornton, most crucial is who receives each omen and in what way it manifests. For instance, bird omens are shown to Telemachus, Penelope, Odysseus, and the suitors.^[82] Telemachus and Penelope receive their omens as well in the form of words, sneezes, and dreams.^[82] However, Odysseus is the only character who receives thunder or lightning as an omen.^[83][84] She highlights this as crucial because lightning, as a symbol of Zeus, represents the kingship of Odysseus.^[82] Odysseus is associated with Zeus throughout both the Iliad and the Odyssey.^[85]

Omens are another example of a type scene in the Odyssey. Two important parts of an omen type scene are the recognition of the omen, followed by its interpretation.^[82] In the Odyssey, all of the bird omens—with the exception of the first—show large birds attacking smaller birds.^[82][80] Accompanying each omen is a wish which can be either explicitly stated or only implied.^[82] For example, Telemachus wishes for vengeance^[86] and for Odysseus to be home,^[87] Penelope wishes for Odysseus' return,^[88] and the suitors wish for the death of Telemachus.^[89]

Reception

Main article: Homeric scholarship

Classical antiquity

Homer was widely celebrated in Greek society as an impressively talented and didactic poet, instructing audiences on topics ranging from philosophy to science.^[90] Performance was the primary way audiences were exposed to the poems in Archaic and Classical Greece,^[91] but their status among audiences in the early Archaic period (840–700 BC) is not understood.^[5]

Scholars of at least two ancient libraries—the Library of Alexandria and the Library of Pergamum^[g]—studied ancient versions of the Homeric epics.^[11] Alexandrian scholars included Zenodotus of Ephesus (early 3rd century BC), 2nd-century Aristophanes of Byzantium (early 2nd century BC) and Aristarchus of Samothrace (mid-2nd century BC).^[93] Emily Wilson says allegory was a very common interpretation in antiquity,^[94] using it "to make sense of puzzling or disturbing scenes in the Odyssey".^[95] Crates of Mallus, a scholar at Pergamon, thought the Homeric texts were allegorical, containing insight into cosmology and geography.^[92] Heraclitus and Porphyry also understood them as allegory.^[96] Heraclitis argued that Telemachus' encounter with Athena represented "the development of rationality" as he becomes a man.^[94] Porphyry saw the nymphs' caves as representing human life.^[94] Clarke says these interpretations protected Homer from allegations that he disrespected the gods;^[97] Xenophanes famously provided this criticism.^[98]

Many ancient editions of the Homeric epics existed; the Library of Alexandria possessed some.^[99] In material derived from the commentary of the 4th-century scholar Didymus, ancient versions were divided into "city editions" and "individual editions".^[h] City editions were likely created within the city (perhaps as "official" versions) while individual editions were prepared independently by scholars.^[101] He mentions individual versions owned by Antimachus, Aristophanes of Byzantium, Sosigenes,^[101] Rhianus of Crete, Callistratus, and Philemon.^[101] City editions are known in Argos, Chios, Crete, Cyprus, and Marseille.^[101]

Throughout antiquity, the Iliad and the Odyssey were school texts in lands where the Greek language was spoken.^[102][103] They were probably a core part of the ancient Greek education system, certainly for the elite of Classical Athens.^[104] By the 6th century, the Homeric poems had a canonical place within the institutions of ancient Athens.^[105] In 566 BC, the Athenian tyrant Peisistratos or his son Hipparchus instituted a civic and religious festival, the Panathenaia, which probably featured performances of Homeric poetry;^[106][107] a "correct" version had to be performed, indicating that a particular version of the text had become canonised.^[4] It is not likely that they were performed without a break.^[108]

Their influence in non-Greek territories fluctuated. The Roman Empire readily absorbed Homer into its culture, transmitting the epic east and west.^[5] The subjects of both the Odyssey and Iliad—the Trojan War and its participants—were already important historical and mythological references for Romans.^[109] Alexander the Great's conquests spread Hellenistic cultural influence throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and it became read by every school child in the Greek world.^[110]

Post-classical

During the Middle Ages, the Iliad and the Odyssey remained widely studied; as with Classical Athens, they were used as school texts within the Byzantine Empire.^[102][103] The Byzantine scholar and archbishop Eustathios of Thessalonike (c. 1115 – c. 1195/6 AD) wrote exhaustive commentaries on both of the Homeric epics that were seen as authoritative by later generations;^[102][103] his commentary on the Odyssey alone spans nearly 2,000 oversized pages in a twentieth-century edition.^[102] The first printed edition of the Odyssey, known as the editio princeps, was produced in 1488 by the Greek scholar Demetrios Chalkokondyles, who had been born in Athens and had studied in Constantinople.^[102][103] His edition was printed in Milan by a Greek printer named Antonios Damilas.^[103]

Early modern

Ulysses and Telemachus kill Penelope's Suitors by Thomas Degeorge (1812)

During the quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns—a late 17th- and early 18th-century artistic debate in France—the Odyssey and Iliad were two of the primary subjects. The Homeric texts were criticised by the writers Jean Desmarets, Pierre Bayle, and Charles Perrault;^[111] Howard Clarke says that Perrault refrained from directly castigating the poems in the absence of a French epic, with Perrault granting Homer "ritual praise" by describing him as "Father of all the Arts". Defenders of the epics and Homer included Jean de La Fontaine and Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux.^[111] The debate subsided briefly in 1700, later reigniting between the French scholars Anne Dacier, a translator and staunch defender of Homer, and the Moderns proponent Antoine Houdar de la Motte.^[112] Dacier's Homeric translations included a 90-page introduction addressing the criticisms of Perrault and other Moderns; in his abridged translation of Homer, Houdar de la Motte responded, and Dacier produced a 600-page rebuttal. A rhetorical ceasefire was called in 1716.^[113]

As part of the quarrel, questions arose over the traditional view of Homer as a singular poet.^[114] François Hédelin, Abbé d’ Aubignac criticised Homer's sustenance of theme; his language; and observed that nothing was known about his life.^[115] Perrault posited that the epics were written by different poets, possibly from each city that claimed to be Homer's birthplace, and then assembled; he credited the theory to the late Hédelin.^[116] Richard Bentley argued that the Athenian tyrant Pisistratus assembled different songs five-hundred years after initial composition.^[117] His research also showed that Homeric Greek did not resemble the Greek of the classical period.^[118]

Modern

In the early 20th century, Milman Parry and Albert Lord demonstrated that illiterate singers could exploit formulaic language to improvise large poems, much like the Homeric Greek.^[119] Of the 27,803 lines in the original texts, around 9200 are repetitions, ranging from groups of words to entire sections.^[120] Their research decisively showed that the Homeric texts formed as oral poetry.^[121] Parry and Lord were investigating the South Slavic epic tradition, inspired by the work of philologist Matija Murko.^[119] Parry's doctoral thesis had explored traditional Homeric epithets, drawing from the work of French linguist Antoine Meillet, but he did not comprehend the significance completely until travelling to Yugoslavia to conduct field work with Lord.^[122][i]

Legacy

Front cover of James Joyce's Ulysses

See also: Parallels between Virgil's Aeneid and Homer's Iliad and Odyssey

The influence of the Homeric texts can be difficult to summarise because of how greatly they have affected the popular imagination and cultural values.^[124] The Odyssey and the Iliad formed the basis of education for members of ancient Mediterranean society. That curriculum was adopted by Western humanists,^[125] meaning the text was so much a part of the cultural fabric that an individual having read it was irrelevant.^[126] The epics mark the beginning of the Western literary tradition and, according to Corinne Ondine Pasche, have unrivalled influence.^[127] The Odyssey has reverberated over a millennium of writing; a poll of experts for BBC Culture named it literature's most enduring narrative.^[128]

Translation

See also: English translations of Homer

Livius Andronicus produced a Latin translation, Odusia.^[129] Little is known about the full work, which was probably not simply a translation,^[130] but surviving fragments are more formal than the original, and he reappropriated Homeric imagery from one part of the poem to another.^[131] Livius' Odusia eventually became a school text for Latin students; Michael von Albrecht says his translation was "beaten into" a young Horace.^[132] Nicholas Sigeros provided Petrarch with manuscripts of the Iliad and the Odyssey in 1354.^[j] Petrarch's correspondent Giovanni Boccaccio persuaded a monk to called Pilato to produce translations in Latin prose—he finished the Iliad, but only came close to finishing the Odyssey.^[133] The first printed edition in Greek was published in Milan 1488 by Demetrios Chalkokondyles, a Greek scholar resident in Florence.^[134]

Printed translations for modern European languages surged in popularity in the 16th century,^[135] although many were only partial translations.^[136] The most popular edition of the century was a word-for-word Latin translation by Andreas Divus.^[135] The first completed Italian Odyssey, written by Girolamo Baccelli in free verse, was published in 1582.^[137] The first completed French translation was composed in Alexandrine couplets by Salomon Certon and printed in 1604.^[136] It lost public favour following the Académie Française language reforms in the 1630s and 1640s.^[138] Arthur Hall was the first to translate Homer into English: his translation of the Iliad's first 10 books, which was published in 1581,^[137] relied upon a French version.^[139] George Chapman became the first writer to complete a translation of both epics into English after finishing his translation of the Odyssey.^[140] These translations were published together in 1616, but were serialised earlier, and became the first modern translations to enjoy widespread success.^[141] He worked on Homeric translation for most of his life,^[142] and his work later inspired John Keats' sonnet "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" (1816).^[143] Emily Wilson writes that almost all prominent translators of Greco-Roman literature had been men,^[144] arguing this impacted the popular understanding of the Odyssey.^[145][k]

Johann Heinrich Voss' 18th-century translations of the epics are among his most celebrated works,^[147][l] and profoundly influenced the German language.^[148] Johann Wolfgang von Goethe called Voss' translations transformational masterpieces that initiated interest German Hellenism.^[149] Anne Dacier translated the Iliad and Odyssey into French prose,^[m] appearing in 1711 and 1716, respectively;^[138] it was the standard French Homeric translation until the late 18th century.^[151] Antoine Houdar de La Motte, who could not read Greek, used Dacier's Iliad to produce his own contracted version of the Iliad and criticised Homer in the preface.^[112][n] Dacier's translation of the Odyssey profoundly influenced the 1720s translation by Alexander Pope,^[153][o] which he produced for financial reasons years after his Iliad.^[154] He translated twelve books himself and divided the other twelve between Elijah Fenton and William Broome; the latter also provided annotations.^[155][156] This information eventually leaked, harming his reputation and profits.^[157] The first Odyssey in the Russian language may have been Vasily Zhukovsky's 1849 translation in hexameter.^[158][159] Luo Niansheng began translating the first Chinese language Iliad in the late 1980s, but he died in 1990 before completing it; his student Wang Huansheng finished the project, which was published in 1994. Huansheng's Odyssey followed three years later.^[160]

Literature

Classicist Edith Hall says the Odyssey has been regarded as "the very birthplace of literary fiction"; in T. E. Lawrence's 1932 introduction to the epic, he called it "the greatest novel ever written".^[161] It is widely regarded by western literary critics as a timeless classic,^[162] and it remains one of the oldest pieces of literature regularly read by Western audiences.^[163] Brian Stableford, who described it as a kind of forerunner to science fiction, says it has been reconfigured as science fiction more than any other literary work.^[164]

In Canto XXVI of the Inferno, Dante Alighieri meets Odysseus in the eighth circle of hell: Odysseus appends a new ending to the epic in which he continues adventuring and does not return to Ithaca.^[165] Edith Hall suggests that Dante's depiction of Odysseus became understood as a manifestation of Renaissance colonialism and othering, with the cyclops standing in for "accounts of monstrous races on the edge of the world", and his defeat as symbolising "the Roman domination of the western Mediterranean".^[76] Some of Odysseus's adventures reappear in the Arabic tales of Sinbad the Sailor.^[166][167]

The Irish writer James Joyce's modernist novel Ulysses (1922) was significantly influenced by the Odyssey. Joyce had encountered the figure of Odysseus in Charles Lamb's Adventures of Ulysses, an adaptation of the epic poem for children, which seems to have established the Latin name in Joyce's mind.^[168][169] Ulysses, a re-telling of the Odyssey set in Dublin, is divided into eighteen sections ("episodes") which can be mapped roughly onto the twenty-four books of the Odyssey.^[170] Joyce claimed familiarity with the original Homeric Greek, but this has been disputed by some scholars, who cite his poor grasp of the language as evidence to the contrary.^[171] The book, and especially its stream of consciousness prose, is widely considered foundational to the modernist genre.^[172]

Modern writers have revisited the Odyssey to highlight the poem's female characters. Canadian writer Margaret Atwood adapted parts of the Odyssey for her novella The Penelopiad (2005). The novella focuses on Penelope and the twelve female slaves hanged by Odysseus at the poem's ending,^[173] an image which haunted Atwood.^[174] Atwood's novella comments on the original text, wherein Odysseus' successful return to Ithaca symbolises the restoration of a patriarchal system.^[174] Similarly, Madeline Miller's Circe (2018) revisits the relationship between Odysseus and Circe on Aeaea.^[175] As a reader, Miller was frustrated by Circe's lack of motivation in the original poem and sought to explain her capriciousness.^[176] The novel recontextualises the sorceress' transformations of sailors into pigs from an act of malice into one of self-defence, given that she has no superhuman strength with which to repel attackers.^[177]

Film and television

• L'Odissea (1911) is an Italian silent film by Giuseppe de Liguoro.^[178]
• Ulysses (1954) is an Italian film adaptation starring Kirk Douglas as Ulysses, Silvana Mangano as Penelope and Circe, and Anthony Quinn as Antinous.^[179]
• L'Odissea (1968) is an Italian-French-German-Yugoslavian television miniseries praised for its faithful rendering of the original epic.^[180]
• Ulysses 31 (1981–1982) is a French-Japanese television animated series set in the futuristic 31st century.^[181]
• Nostos: The Return (1989) is an Italian film about Odysseus' homecoming. Directed by Franco Piavoli, it relies on visual storytelling and has a strong focus on nature.^[182]
• Ulysses' Gaze (1995), directed by Theo Angelopoulos, has many of the elements of the Odyssey set against the backdrop of the most recent and previous Balkan Wars.^[183]
• The Odyssey (1997) is a television miniseries directed by Andrei Konchalovsky and starring Armand Assante as Odysseus and Greta Scacchi as Penelope.^[184]
• O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) is a crime comedy drama film written, produced, co-edited and directed by the Coen brothers and is very loosely based on Homer's poem.^[185]
• The Return (2024) is a film based on Books 13-24, directed by Uberto Pasolini and starring Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus and Juliette Binoche as Penelope.^[186]
• The Odyssey (2026), written and directed by Christopher Nolan, will be based on the books and is slated to be released in 2026.^[187]

Opera and music

See also: Category:Operas based on the Odyssey

• Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, first performed in 1640, is an opera by Claudio Monteverdi based on the second half of Homer's Odyssey.^[188]
• Rolf Riehm composed an opera based on the myth, Sirenen – Bilder des Begehrens und des Vernichtens (Sirens – Images of Desire and Destruction), which premiered at the Oper Frankfurt in 2014.^[189]
• Robert W. Smith's second symphony for concert band, The Odyssey, tells four of the main highlights of the story in the piece's four movements: "The Iliad", "The Winds of Poseidon", "The Isle of Calypso", and "Ithaca".^[190]
• Jean-Claude Gallota's ballet Ulysse,^[191] based on the Odyssey, but also on the work by James Joyce, Ulysses.^[192]
• Jorge Rivera-Herrans' sung-through work Epic: The Musical tells the story of the Odyssey over the course of nine "sagas", beginning with the end of the Trojan War and carrying through to Odysseus' homecoming to Ithaca.^[193][194]

Sciences

• Psychiatrist Jonathan Shay wrote two books, Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character (1994)^[195] and Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming (2002),^[196] which relate the Iliad and the Odyssey to posttraumatic stress disorder and moral injury as seen in the rehabilitation histories of combat veteran patients.